Your significant other gave you an expensive engagement ring when they proposed. It may have taken them months or even years to save up the money for this gift, and you accepted it when you agreed to marry them.
However, the two of you are now getting divorced, and the situation is complicated. Your ex says that you need to give the engagement ring back due to the divorce. They want to sell it and get their money back. But you believe that you should be allowed to keep the ring. How will the court look at it?
Conditional gifts
Although every case is unique, courts usually view engagement rings as conditional gifts. As such, when you end your relationship makes a big difference.
In the above example, you already got married, which is the condition upon which you were given the ring. If you had broken up with your partner before marrying them, you would not have fulfilled the condition that they proposed when they gave you the ring to start with. It would still belong to them, and you would have to return their property.
But since you did get married and are now getting divorced, this usually means that you have “earned” the ring by fulfilling that condition. Moreover, because your partner gave it to you before the two of you got married, it may qualify as separate property. The ring isn’t even a marital asset because you weren’t married at the time it was purchased.
As you can imagine, this can create a contentious situation, especially when there are thousands of dollars on the line. Be sure you know what legal steps to take at this time.
